A recent Twitter event has brought together a number of industry leaders to shed light on how mortgage broking works and how brokers can help consumers.
The event was held on 25 June in the lead-up to National Finance Brokers Day later on this year. Eleven panellists came together to answer a series of eight questions about the industry with each tweet linked by the hashtag #whybrokers.
“I was very happy with the participants and the panel members that we had. There were a really wide range of brokers on the panel, a few of whom were Australian award-winning recipients,”
Dino Pacella, founder of NFBD, told
Australian Broker.
The panel members all had the same message when it came to clients and consumers alike, he said.
“It was all about placing the customer at the centre of everything that the broker does and ensuring that the best outcome is achieved for the client. That was probably the strongest message that I received out of that whole event.”
For instance,
Loan Market’s Bernard Desmond tweeted about why brokers are important for consumers:
“Brokers ‘CARE’ and the best way to define this is:
C - Choice
A - Advice
R - Research
E – Education”
On how consumers could choose a broker, My Local Broker national sales manager Ross Laurenson said “referral/recommendations are the cornerstone of a broker’s capacity to grow their business” and pointed to the need to build relationships.
Other responses included asking the right questions, doing your own research, and talking to family members and friends.
The seventh question of the night, “What would make a finance broker recommend one bank over another?” garnered a common theme amongst responses: finding the best product for the client.
“Service and costs are the main reasons, but also matching the product with the clients specific needs!” tweeted Finance Unlimited senior financial adviser Nicholas Kakalis.
Other panel members participating in the event included:
- Debbie Hutchings of Real Estate Finance Solutions (REFS Australia)
- Nani Johnston of Rise High Financial Solutions
- Jason Back of the Australian Lending & Investment Centre (ALIC)
- Jordan Papodopolus of Loan Market
- Rebecca Mitchell of Awesome Lending Solutions
- James McCracken of The Successful Advisor
- Ash Playsted of The Mortgage Whisperer
- Steven Phang of Aspirus Financial Services
The one-hour event brought in just over 120 #whybrokers tweets with 89% of participants saying the session was “very informative” in a poll run the following day.
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